


Please Wake Up

by Lord_Byron_Mudkippington



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Angst, Coma, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27940547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Byron_Mudkippington/pseuds/Lord_Byron_Mudkippington
Summary: After an accident, Nozomi falls into a coma, and Eli sits by her side every day, praying for her to wake up.
Relationships: Ayase Eli/Toujou Nozomi
Comments: 21
Kudos: 26





	Please Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this back on 12/21/15, but I've given it a few more words. There was actually an alternate ending written by a friend, but it appears to have disappeared. Sorry y'all

Eli had never been much of a crier. She was a tough girl, and she could take what life threw at her. If she was knocked down, she'd just get right back up and try again. She wanted to set a good example for her sister and for her fellow μ's members. Then one day, life knocked her down and she lost all of her desire to get back up again.

Nozomi had been in an accident. Something in her subconscious continued to suppress the details, but it had been a car accident: that much her brain allowed her to remember. Nobody saw it coming: one day she was smiling and laughing like normal, and the next she was lying in a hospital bed. Eli kept thinking about her smile and those beautiful eyes that always shone with joy whenever the two of them saw each other. Now that smile was gone, and those eyes were closed. They hadn't opened in a long time. The doctors said she wasn't getting better, that maybe she never would. Not even the best medical professionals in Japan knew when - or even _if_ \- she might awake from her coma. Stubborn as she was, Eli refused to believe it, and in consequence refused to leave Nozomi's side. She wasn't going to take the chance that the doctors would unplug her the second she turned her back. 

Eli cried a lot now. Even when she felt that there were no tears left for her to give, she could still feel them dripping down her cheeks. Most days she would tear up silently, but on her worst days she would sob loudly, clutching onto Nozomi's cold arm and begging her to speak, to say anything, to do anything. Her friends could do nothing for either of them: none of them could reach into Eli's fractured psyche. They had all come to her bedside after they initially heard the news, but they couldn't stay there all hours of the day. Occasionally one or two of them would visit and try to cheer Eli up, but it was all to no avail. She would never feel happiness again until her Nozomi was brought back to her.

It had been over a year of silent prayers, of heavy tears, of wishing that it was her lying there lifelessly. Eli sat under the cold gaze of the artificial lights, sniffling miserably against the sleeve of Nozomi's gown. "Nozomi..." Her voice was raw, struggling with the crying and the days of disuse. Still, she spoke to Nozomi every day in case she could hear her, and to make sure she never forgot her. "Nozomi, please... Please, you need to wake up... because I can't do this without you." 

Each passing month made it so much harder. She couldn't stay at Nozomi's side every second of the day, no matter how much she wanted to. Her job would constantly beckon, and she would have to heed the call in order to keep money coming in to keep Nozomi on life support. Every night she would stumble into the hospital, exhausted, and talk to Nozomi, who would never answer back. Sometimes she even fell asleep at the hospital, stumbling back out in a daze to repeat the cycle. She didn't know how much longer she could last, but she would do it as long as it took in order to keep Nozomi tethered to her.

  
Another night at the hospital. The lights had been dimmed, and the hallway was empty. She placed her head down on Nozomi's arm and cried, letting out a fresh wave of tears for the third time that day. Over a year later and seeing Nozomi lying there, in a hospital gown and unmoving, felt just as painful as it did on the day the accident happened.

Her head slowly lifted in her grief, but... she hadn't been the one to lift it. Eyes wide, she realized that she had somehow been moving, and it wasn't under her own power. She lifted her head up completely, staring down at Nozomi's arm. It stayed still long enough for her to start to believe she had been imagining things. Then it moved: ever-so slightly, but enough to make her fall out of her chair.

She was speechless as Nozomi slowly rose, her movements slow. "Unnh..." Her voice was dulled by all the time she had spent in her coma, but there was no mistaking who was talking. Those beautiful eyes that she had been denied from viewing for so long blinked open, glancing in her direction. In a croaking voice, Nozomi wearily muttered, "Eli...cchi?"

"Nozomi!" Her voice rising in disbelief and utter relief, Eli threw her arms around Nozomi, sobbing as she hugged her bedridden partner tightly. "Oh Gods, Nozomi, I've missed you so much! You hadn't woken in so long!" The world around them disappeared as Eli focused everything she had on Nozomi, all her worries disappearing while the emptiness in her heart swelled up with warmth. She couldn't believe it, but there Nozomi was, awake and alive in front of her. She felt so... so happy.

"Elicchi..." When she looked up, she could see Nozomi crying. It must've just been sinking in what she had gone through. She lifted a hand up to wipe her tears away, still unwilling to let go of Nozomi with her other arm. After seeing Nozomi awake for the first time in over a year, she couldn't risk letting her go and somehow losing her again.

"I'm here, Nozomi. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." She wanted to squeeze Nozomi tightly, but she refrained in case it popped out one of her IVs. "You're okay! Thank the Gods, you're okay!" She would've been screaming in relief if she wasn't afraid of waking up any other patients that late at night.

"I can't do this without you."

"Huh?" Eli blinked in confusion, looking at Nozomi. She looked crestfallen, which made no sense. The shock was expected, but this was a joyous occasion. It was a miracle! What Nozomi was saying didn't make any sense. "You don't have to do anything without me, Nozomi. I've been right by your side the whole time, I promise. I'll never leave you. We'll get you out of this hospital, and then we can get back to the way things were." It was overly optimistic, but she was really feeling it right then.

"You need to wake up, Elicchi... because I can't do this without you."

"Wake... up?" What in the world was Nozomi talking about? Maybe she was still under the effects of a year-long coma. She was staring right at her, though, yet... it was like she was staring right through her too. "Nozomi, I'm awake, and so are you. I promise this is real." She risked hugged Nozomi tighter, resting her head on her shoulder. "It's not a dream anymore, Nozomi. This is real, and I won't ever let you go back down there again."

"We all miss you, Elicchi. I... I miss you." Nozomi didn't seem to be listening to her, as if she was deaf to her words. She just kept staring at her with tear-stained eyes. "Please wake up... I need you. I need you, Elicchi." Reaching out with a hand, Nozomi began to gently shake her arm, and all she could do was stare at her in complete confusion. Why was Nozomi acting like this? Maybe she needed to get a doctor.

"Let me get a doctor. I'll be right back, I promise." She gave Nozomi a quick kiss on the forehead, then stood up and rushed out of the room. She would flag down the first doctor she could find and rush them back to the room, because Nozomi wasn't making any sense. If she had anything to say about it, she wouldn't let anything bad happen to Nozomi again. She wouldn't let her sink back into that terrible coma. They were going to be okay. _She_ was going to be okay.

* * *

  
A gentle hand squeezed her shoulder. She looked up into Maki's eyes, full of sympathy and understanding. Her bedside manner was quite different than the sullen, easily-embarrassed woman she knew outside the hospital walls. Though Maki was there for her, she forced herself to look away. She didn't want Maki's sympathy. She wasn't ready yet.

"It's been over a year. Her... family thinks this is for the best." Maki sounded uncomfortable, much more than if she was speaking with someone she wasn't familiar with. This was someone she had known for years, though, so it was harder than usual to break the news she already hated to break.

"Well they don't speak for everyone!" Emotion flooded her voice as she gripped onto the arm that was no longer moving, on a bed that wasn't big enough for the two of them, in a hospital room that was way too sterile. She gently shook that motionless arm, trying to ignore the sound of another person entering the room. "She's going to be fine. She'll wake up any second now..." That's what she had been saying for the past year.

  
Maki sighed deeply. It was obvious that she was trying to be gentle, but there was only so much she could say to her grieving friend. "It... isn't likely that she'll wake up again. There's always a chance, but-" She didn't want to listen, though. She wanted to hold on to that minute chance instead of being confronted with the truth.

"Yes she will! She _will_ wake up again! Elicchi!" Nozomi desperately shook Eli, willing her to wake up. She never moved though, and soon strong arms were being wrapped around her. One of the nurses had her in his clutches, and he was hoisting her up onto her feet and pulling her away forcefully. "No! Elicchi! Wake up, Elicchi!" She fought against the arms around her, grunting as she struggled in vain. Her eyes found Maki's, but she didn't do anything. She hated how Maki just stood there and did nothing. What kind of friend was she anyway?! They just needed more time. Eli was going to wake up. She had to!

"Elicchi!" When she was removed from the room, and the door was closed, her screams echoed down the hospital walls. Her struggles grew weaker as she was refused her escape. "Elicchi!!!" Why couldn't she have been lying on that bed instead? Why did it have to be Eli? Her screams, like every day for over a year, were not answered. They never would be. 


End file.
